US Ruling Reopens Old 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland

US Ruling Reopens Old 'Troubles' in Northern Ireland

Article excerpt

A Boston College research project meant to collect testimony
about Troubles-era crimes may now be a political time-bomb for
Northern Ireland, thanks to a federal appeals court ruling.

When Boston College launched its Belfast Project the aim was to
create an insiders' oral history of Northern Ireland's so-called
"Troubles" by collecting the testimonies of participants on all
sides of the conflict. What no one expected was for history to rear
up and become the present once more.

That is precisely what has now happened as a US federal appeals
court has ruled that the researchers' right to free inquiry is
overridden by the British state's right to investigate past crimes.

The July 6 ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit
results from Boston College researchers Edmund Moloney and Anthony
McIntyre's attempts to block two sets of subpoenas issued by the
Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). The PSNI wants access to
the testimonies in order to pursue prosecutions for unsolved crimes -
in this case one of the most unsettling of the murky 30-year war:
the abduction and secret killing of Jean McConville in 1972.

Mr. Moloney is a respected senior journalist who covered the
conflict for three decades while Mr. McIntyre is himself a former
Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) member, turned academic.

Boston College is separately appealing the order enforcing one of
the sets of subpoenas.

Ironically, all sides want the truth to be told - the question is
when, under what circumstances, and if it will be the full
historical record.

"The whole purpose of doing the archive was to establish some
truth, as far as you can," says Moloney. "What you do is collect it
together and look at it in the round."

The Belfast Project, hosted by Boston College, collected
testimonies from pro-Irish republicans and pro-British loyalists
about their activities during the 30-year-long Troubles, on the
basis that the information would not be made public until after
their deaths. The testimonies were meant to provide a frank history
of the Troubles that might otherwise go untold. But the court
decision has thrown this into disarray.

"They [the PSNI's Historical Enquiries Team] are trying to open a
Pandora's box here, that has the potential to cause all sorts of
damage," says Moloney.

The Disappeared

The case at issue centers on the testimony of former IRA member
Dolours Price, whose interview with Moloney and McIntyre, police
allege, may contain information about the circumstances surrounding
Mrs. McConville's murder. Speculation is running wild that Ms.
Price's testimony will link Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams to the
killing, which, if true, could prove explosive to Northern Ireland's
long-standing yet fragile peace accord and power-sharing government.

The murder of McConville is one of the most contentious killings
of the Irish conflict. McConville, a Catholic convert and mother of
10, lived in West Belfast, ground zero for the early years of the
conflict. In 1972 she was abducted and killed by the IRA. She
subsequently became the best-known of "the disappeared," those
believed to have been killed by the IRA in secret because it was
feared that revulsion at their killing would have turned
nationalists and republicans against the organization.

The IRA admitted responsibility for the killing in 1999, but
claimed McConville was a spy, which her family denies. Her body was
recovered in 2003, buried in County Louth in the Republic of
Ireland.

After the court ruling, the material is expected to be handed
over by Boston College in the next month. …